The ECC Blog

A Personal Statement

Several years ago, I began the process of ordination in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which, as you may recall, concluded last March as I was ordained as a Teaching Elder right here on ECC's chancel. When I began this journey, Rich told me, “We’ll support you in this, but I know some other church is going to snatch you up.”

Well, it turns out that Rich has at least one accurate prophecy to his name. Just a few weeks ago, I was offered a position as pastor of an EPC congregation just north of St. Cloud, Minnesota. This church has been without a pastor since February, and given where the church is in its life and development, we think it would be a perfect fit. Assuming all goes well with a number of details that need to fall into place, we should be moving to the Land of 10,000 Lakes in mid-November . . . when most of those lakes are already frozen.

ECC has invested greatly in me and my family, and I want you to know that in the kingdom of God, no resources are wasted. I pursued ordination because of my desire to serve Christ in his church. I want to be like Onesimus, whom Paul sends away to Philemon, though he would be glad to keep him, because he is “useful.”

ECC is dear to my heart, dear to my wife, and is what my children think of when they think of church. It has been a place of growth, learning, profound encouragement, deepening community, and rich fellowship. This was not a decision we made lightly.

Scripture calls us to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to mourn with those who mourn. In the present instance, I invite you to join me and my family in both of these activities at the same time. As confident as we are that this is God’s next step for us, we already feel the loss of this fellowship acutely. Thank you for investing your talents in my family and in the service of Christ’s eternal kingdom.